Gaumont Rebrands Alphanim, Pacts With DreamWorks Classics For ‘Noddy’

Ahead of next month’s MipTV market in Cannes, Gaumont is rebranding its Alphanim label to become Gaumont Animation. Under its new banner, the children’s entertainment producer and distributor has entered a development and production agreement with DreamWorks Classics and France Télévisions for 3D CGI animated series, Noddy, based on the character created in 1949 by Enid Blyton. DreamWorks Animation acquired the rights to Noddy, about a little wooden boy who lives in Toyland, as part of its 2012 purchase of Classic Media. French major Gaumont has increasingly ramped up its television activities. In 2011, it launched Gaumont International Television, a U.S.-based subsidiary that’s producing Hannibal for NBC and Sony/AXN, Hemlock Grove for Netflix, and Barbarella with Canal Plus. The company originally acquired Alphanim in 2007.